Assessing Crewe Alex's 2024 Summer Transfer Window

I love the early days of a summer transfer window. Players are being released, you're starting to look at targets and see which players you'd like your club to sign. It's fun. But I don't know about anyone else, but when the season starts, I want nothing more than to see it close. The fact the window remains open until the end of August is very distracting and now that is has finally closed, I feel relief that it's over until January now. So, how did Crewe Alex in particular fare in the transfer window? Who did they lose and who did they sign over what was an unusually busy summer?

Outgoings

Elliott Nevitt - Gillingham(Free)

Losing Nevitt was a big blow, but a sign of just what the Alex are up against in L2 finances wise. Nevitt left the North West and a 16 goal season at Crewe to hook up with the Gills. His move hasn't gone well so far, as a pre-season injury has ruled him out of the opening month of the season and potentially more. Still, his loss was and is a big one.

Luke Offord - MK Dons(Free)

Following Nevitt out the door to another L2 club was the club captain. His form in the early part of 2024 was a key reason why the Alex were able to find another gear and start taking points off the other promotion chasers. His unfortunate season ending ankle injury in mid-February was another reason why the Alex's promotion bid almost fell apart and in truth, it's hard to say they've found a replacement for him at this point.

His start to the season with MK has been a rough one as they've struggled to gain traction early on, but if he can settle there, he'll easily prove to be a great pick up.

Rio Adebisi - Peterborough United(Undisclosed)

The only player who left for a fee this summer was their ever present LB. His improvement last season was nothing short of incredible, as he went from a player who split opinions in the fan base to the first name on the team sheet and an underrated rescuer of results. His 4 goals and 7 assists were invaluable and whilst there is hope that Max Conway and Charlie Finney can replace him, he's still left a sizeable hole in the squad.

Like the 2 above, his time since leaving Gresty Road hasn't gone well so far, as a serious injury will see him miss the next few months and leave him playing catch up once he does get fit.

Courtney Baker-Richardson - Newport County(Free)

Losing Nevitt was a blow, but fans seemed mixed in their reaction to the news that CBR would be returning to his old club in Wales just 2 years after leaving them. He'd had a mixed 2 seasons at the Alex, as injury and him falling to 2nd fiddle behind Nevitt lessened his impact, even if he did score 17 goals.

He's had a solid start back at Newport, with 2 goals(both penalties) to his name thus far.

Dave Richards - Dundee United(Free)

Swapping the number 2 spot at Crewe to the number 2 spot for an SPL side. Why break the habit of a lifetime? I'm sure he's a decent guy, but when his career is over and done and he looks back on just 70 odd career appearances, will he feel proud of that, or feel that he wasted his playing career? Either way, I don't think any Alex fans were bothered to see him go.

Charlie Colkett - Gateshead(Free)

After 2 heavily injury hit seasons at the Alex, Colkett eventually found a new home in the North East, signing with the National League side. He made his debut on Bank Holiday Monday away at Oldham, lasting just 46 minutes before being taken off. Another injury?

Billy Sass-Davies - Hartlepool United(Free)

The giant CB never quite proved up to the EFL level, so he dropped down a level to Hartlepool. He's had an ok start to life there, starting in their last 2 games as the Monkey Hangers have a so-so start to their season. Hopefully he finds some stability there.

Max Woodcock, Zak Kempster-Down(Without a club)

The 2 graduates departed after struggling to make an impression last season. As far as I can see, neither player has found a new home, but hopefully they can get fixed up soon.

Charlie Kirk(Without a club)

I thought I'd leave this one till last. Ask some Crewe fans about Kirk's homecoming and they'll tell you he did ok given he was coming in mid-season and clearly lacking fitness. They'll tell you he should have had 3 assists and deserved a deal over Chris Long.

On the other hand, some will tell you he was a huge disappointment, looked a shell of himself and his career might be going the same way George Cooper's is. Personally, I'm more in the former camp, but given the window has now shut and Kirk remains unsigned, questions have to be asked as to why. Either way, his return to the Alex has long sailed given Bell's refusal to consider bringing him back.

Incomings

Fin Roberts - Bromley(Free)

It's hard to know what his status was when he came on trial early in the summer, as he didn't show on Bromley's retained list. Either way, he's a Crewe player and he's generated some hype after a decent showing in the pre-season friendlies, then in scoring a goal in the EFL Trophy against the Liverpool U21s.

Still, he's only 18 and was signed on a 2 year deal as a developmental player. He has elements to his game he'll need to improve on and I wouldn't be surprised to see him head out on loan once the Alex's 2nd Trophy game against Blackpool is done on Tuesday. He's one to keep an eye on, but I wouldn't expect to see him in the squad just yet.

Adrien Thibaut - Macclesfield(Free)

Another who was signed as a developmental player and another who bagged in the Trophy against Liverpool, with his first touch no less. He's another I think who'll be sent out to get game time in the non-leagues, which is better for him than sitting in the reserves and playing U21 games every week.

Filip Marschall - Aston Villa(Loan)

Marschall has struggled to win over some in the Alex fan base. He came with poor reviews from his time at MK Dons last season and despite making only a few minor errors for the Alex in his first few games, it seems like some still find ways to criticise him, which I find bizarre. Is he a good keeper? Too early to tell. Does he deserve the criticism he's getting now, despite being one of their better players so far? No.

James Connolly - Bristol Rovers(Undisclosed)

The Alex needed to strengthen in defence and they went and signed the 22-year-old from Bristol Rovers, paying a fee for his services. The early impressions have been mixed, with a decent enough debut at Barrow, but a horror show(amongst many other players) against Chesterfield and a benching for Swindon. Again, it's too early to tell if the Alex have got a gem or a dud in Connolly.

Jamie Knight-Lebel - Bristol City(Loan)

The youngster is making his first steps in the pro game and he's done fine so far. He drew into the team against Swindon and coped well against their big threats. Time will tell if he will be a success or not.

Max Conway - Bolton Wanderers(Loan)

The third loan to be used on a defensive player was bringing in the full back to compete with Charlie Finney for game time on the left side of the team. He's had arguably the best start of any of the Alex's summer signings so far, with a couple of really solid outings. More will be needed as he builds up his fitness, but the early impressions are good from him.

Max Sanders - Leyton Orient(Undisclosed)

Winner of the pre-season player of the season award, his start to the actual season hasn't been so strong, with a couple of ok displays against Barrow and Swindon and a shocker and early hook against Chesterfield sandwiched in the middle. The concerns are there with Sanders, namely in his fitness issues and him being devoid of creativity, goal threat and maybe even defensive prowess. He needs to step up in the coming weeks to repay the managers faith in making him a marquee addition this summer.

Kian Breckin - Manchester City(Loan)

Even with the addition of Sanders, Bell felt his midfield room needed more bodies, so he added the youngster from Man City. Fresh off a short spell with Wycombe last season, he's only made 1 league appearance thus far and not made the squad in the other game he was eligible for. However, he did impress against Liverpool and I have no doubt he'll get his chance to impress in the league should others continue to struggle.

Jack Lankester - Cambridge United(Undisclosed)

The third fee paid by the Alex was for the Cambridge winger. Unfortunately as with Sanders, the question marks you had at the time he signed haven't gone away. After a questionable lack of end product in League 1, him dropping into League Two has so far led to 3 very average performances, with his appearance off the bench against Swindon being the most impressive, if from an admittedly low bar.

The Alex signed him to be a creative and goalscoring spark and we've seen little evidence of that so far. That needs to change and quickly.

Kane Hemmings - Stevenage(Free)

The Alex went surprisingly older when they moved to sign the 33-year-old Hemmings, who had been a thorn in the Alex's side over the years for other clubs. Through 3 games, Hemmings has worked hard and looked reasonably decent given the total lack of service coming his way.

Finding the way to squeeze whatever juice is left in him out of him will be the challenge, as he doesn't seem comfortable playing the lone striker role. Finding him a partner, whether that's Bogle or Long, or plenty of attacking midfield support, feels like the best way to get goals out of him.

Omar Bogle - Newport County(Free)

Probably the Alex's marquee signing, I not as high on Bogle as others are. Sure, he had his impressive breakthrough season with Grimsby and then he showed his goal threat in 22-23 with Newport, but the rest of his career has been frustrated by frequent changes of club and lots of injuries.

Still, if he can stay fit and Bell can keep him focused, he could be a valuable source of goals. Those are big ifs though.

Conclusion

So, they saw 10 players leave over the summer, 14 if you count Rowe, Austerfield, Leigh and Turns returning to their parent clubs. And they signed 11 external and 3 internal players to replace them. Now, first of all, we're only 5 games into the season. We don't know who'll pan out and who won't. There have been promising signs with some, worrying signs with others. Saying the window has been good or bad as this stage is far too premature.

However, the early thoughts are that this group looks deeper than last seasons, on paper at least. If you remove the 3 first year pros and 2 developmental players, you are still left with a squad of 22 that you would feel ok being in the squad at least. Yes, if you saw a couple of players on the team sheet week in, week out, you wouldn't be too happy. But if they had to come off the bench, that would be fine.

Again on paper, but as things now settle, I would hope to see a strong starting XI emerge and the depth slot in behind them to step in when needed. There have been baby steps taken since Chesterfield and the hope is that a couple of results could see their season get going.

However, on the flip side, I think some of their additions, and a couple that returned from last season as well, are questionable. They clearly wanted to add one more attacker before the window shut and they didn't. They do look short upfront and potentially on the right hand side as well. Is this something they could address by signing a free agent? Is there room in the budget for that?

All that aside though, what they have is what they have at this point. This is the group that will have to get them through to January. Is it enough? We're about to find out.